Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 45

March 11, 202610 counties in Maryland; 30 counties in Pennsylvania; 11 counties in West Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 11, 2026, 1:45 PM EDT for 10 counties in Maryland; 30 counties in Pennsylvania; 11 counties in West Virginia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 11, 2026, 1:45 PM EDT (17:45 UTC)
Expired: Mar 11, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 51 counties

Allegany County, MD, Baltimore County, MD, Carroll County, MD, City of Baltimore, MD, Frederick County, MD, Garrett County, MD, Harford County, MD, Howard County, MD, Montgomery County, MD, Washington County, MD, Adams County, PA, Allegheny County, PA, Bedford County, PA, Blair County, PA, Cambria County, PA, Centre County, PA, Clearfield County, PA, Columbia County, PA, Cumberland County, PA, Dauphin County, PA, Fayette County, PA, Franklin County, PA, Fulton County, PA, Greene County, PA, Huntingdon County, PA, Indiana County, PA, Juniata County, PA, Lancaster County, PA, Lebanon County, PA, Mifflin County, PA, Montour County, PA, Northumberland County, PA, Perry County, PA, Schuylkill County, PA, Snyder County, PA, Somerset County, PA, Union County, PA, Washington County, PA, Westmoreland County, PA, York County, PA, Berkeley County, WV, Grant County, WV, Hampshire County, WV, Hardy County, WV, Jefferson County, WV, Marion County, WV, Mineral County, WV, Monongalia County, WV, Morgan County, WV, Preston County, WV, Tucker County, WV

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:48 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes: 40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 50%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 10%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 20%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 70%

Warnings issued inside it

32 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 11, 1:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Greene, Washington	44 min
Mar 11, 1:50 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	PBZ	Greene	18 min
Mar 11, 1:57 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	PBZ	Allegheny, Washington	9 min
Mar 11, 2:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Allegheny, Armstrong, Indiana, Westmoreland	49 min
Mar 11, 2:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Fayette, Greene, Washington, Westmoreland	63 min
Mar 11, 2:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Centre	36 min
Mar 11, 3:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Indiana	10 min
Mar 11, 3:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield	36 min
Mar 11, 3:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Somerset	48 min
Mar 11, 3:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Blair, Centre, Huntingdon, Mifflin	30 min
Mar 11, 3:45 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CTP	Bedford, Cambria, Somerset	30 min
Mar 11, 4:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Blair, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin	36 min
Mar 11, 5:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Cumberland, Dauphin, Juniata, Perry	23 min
Mar 11, 5:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon, Perry	47 min
Mar 11, 5:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Hampshire	30 min
Mar 11, 5:56 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CTP	Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry	34 min
Mar 11, 6:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Carroll, Frederick, Washington	51 min
Mar 11, 6:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Berkeley, Jefferson	36 min
Mar 11, 6:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Adams, Franklin	47 min
Mar 11, 6:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon	33 min
Mar 11, 6:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Carroll, Frederick	35 min
Mar 11, 6:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LWX	Frederick, Montgomery	35 min
Mar 11, 6:44 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Carroll, Frederick	20 min
Mar 11, 6:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Frederick, Howard, Montgomery	34 min
Mar 11, 7:00 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Carroll, Howard, Montgomery	15 min
Mar 11, 7:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lancaster, Lebanon	13 min
Mar 11, 7:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, York	41 min
Mar 11, 7:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Fayette	20 min
Mar 11, 7:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LWX	Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard, Montgomery and 2 more	46 min
Mar 11, 7:19 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Baltimore, City of Baltimore	15 min
Mar 11, 7:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Huntingdon, Somerset	39 min
Mar 11, 7:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Baltimore, Harford	38 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 5.8 hours before the alert went out and 71 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 213 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -41 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 632 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 321 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 312 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 11, 1:50 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegany, Garrett	85 min
Mar 11, 4:34 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Washington	86 min
Mar 11, 6:47 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick and 8 more	118 min
Mar 11, 7:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Anne Arundel, Caroline, Cecil, Kent, Prince George's, Queen Anne's and 1 more	3 hr
Mar 11, 10:10 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence, Mercer and 1 more	2 hr
Mar 11, 10:35 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Barbour, Braxton, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay and 23 more	8 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Pennsylvania, 2026 Tornado Watches in West Virginia, 2026 Tornado Watches in Maryland, 2026 Every tornado watch in 2026

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.